Former Ireland junior international Roisin Harrison was one of five women to smash through the eight seconds barrier in a series of 60m races at Aberdeen AAC’s first indoor meeting of the season.

Great Britain international Zoey Clark led the way by setting a new Aberdeen AAC record when twice recording 7.49secs – a time bettered only by seven other Scots in the history of the sport.

It was a highly encouraging couple of performances from the world-class 400m specialist who hopes to compete in the European indoor championships in Glasgow next March.

Clark’s Aberdeen clubmate Sharon Jakisa cracked eight secs for the first time when reducing her best from 8.01 to 7.83, while Robert Gordon University student Eilidh de Klerk clocked 7.99.

Lindsey Young (Banchory Stonehaven AC) also joined the sub-eight club by improving her best time from 8.00 to 7.97.

Harrison, a fourth-year psychology student at Aberdeen University, hit 7.85 in her first race and followed up with a solid 7.88 in her second outing an hour later, both performances being inside her previous best of 7.91 which dated back to January 2016.

She said: “These local indoor meetings are absolutely fantastic. Having five women going under eight secs is a really positive outcome and shows the benefit of having quality competition.

“I am delighted to improve on my best time which had stood since I was in my first year here.

“I’ve been doing more technical work with my coach, Eoghann MacNamara, which has helped me get out of the blocks better and get up to speed much quicker. That’s certainly making a difference.

“It’s great to see the work I’m doing in training paying off when I get into a race, so that’s really encouraging.”

Harrison, who comes from Limerick, represented Ireland in the 4x100m relay at the 2015 European under-20 championships in Sweden prior to moving to Aberdeen to begin her degree course.

Injuries have interrupted her progress but she’s now aiming to get back to top form in the months ahead.

However, despite her success on the Aberdeen Sports Village indoor track, Harrison isn’t planning any major competitions over the winter campaign.

She said: “Apart from the other open meetings here in Aberdeen, I don’t intend doing any other indoor competitions.

“I’d prefer to peak for the outdoors because I enjoy that a lot more.

“So, over the winter, I just want to keep training, working on the technical stuff and hopefully staying free from injury so I can come out in the spring and run some fast times.

“My main aim is to retain my Scottish universities and colleges 200m title. I’d really love to do that.

“I’ll probably also aim for the Irish championships and probably the British championships as well.

“The main focus will be on the 200m although I’ll probably do quite a few 100m as well as they are good for building speed.